Crate.



J. WAHL.

CRATE.

APPLIUATION FILED 113.1, 1912.

1,027,631. A .Patenteamay28, 1912.

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r11-Ziff COLUMBIA PMNoaRAPH c0..WASMlNu'roN. D. c.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEErcE. g,

' JOSEPH WAHL, OE NEW YORK, 4N. Y.

CRATE.

Speeication of Letters Patent.

vhattan, in the county and State4 of New York, have invented certain new and useful v Improvements in Crates, of which .thefol-VVV lowing is a specification. A

This inventiony relates to, an improved foldable or collapsible crate which isintended forv thevpurposeof shipping ladies4 hats, artilicialfeathers, trimmings and similar light articles on the one hand, and hardware, flowers, fruits, confectionery, vand other heavier articles onthe other hand, in a perfectly secure and vprotected manner, the

crate being folded upy after use so asfto take` up less room in storage and beingreadily.

made up in crate-form again when it is de- 1 sired to use the same for ,delivering articles i, to customers.

Heretofore hats 'and other articles Vfor ladies use were shipped Lin collapsible cardboard boxes which were strengthened by means of wooden frames on the bottom-side g and end-walls of the box. These boxes were found unsuitable for many purposes, Vespecially when heavier and bulkier articles of merchandise vare to be shipped..

The object of this invention is tofurnish an improved collapsible shipping 4crate which is made mainly of wood and partly of card-board and strengthened in such a man* ner that any article from light and flimsy article of fashion Afor ladies Vuse up to a heavier article can be safely shipped so that the range of application of such crates may be largely extended for, use in the various trades withoutv being vconned to the special uses of the millinery, feather and artificial f flower trades; and for this purpose the invention consistsof a collapsible or foldable crate, which comprisesLa bottom made of longitudinal and transversewOoden slats side-walls hinged to the Isides of` the lbottom y and also made of longitudinal and. transverse strips of wood, and front` and rearwalls pivoted to front and rear-strips of the bottom and made 'of wooden; slats like the sidewalls, and a coverco'nstructed and made of slats in the s'amemanner as the bottom and provided with corner-slots whichy are used in connection with double sheet metal double fasteners of rectangular shape that are fulcrumed to the upper corners of the ing adapted to be` passedthrough the slots 1n the cover and the other section throughk slots in the ycorners of the fro-nt and `rearwalls for firmly holding the side and front and rear walls togethervr and the cover in` locked position thereon while permitting the convenient. detaching. of the fasteners and from said slots 'the inwardfolding of the side-walls and the' front and rear-walls over the bottom and storing them withfthe cover in collapsed vposition ready for another use.

y'Patented May 28,1912.

Application led February 1, 1912. Serial No. 674,795.

In the accompanying drawings,.Figure l represents a perspective view of my improved shipping crate, Figs. 2 and 3A are respectively a vertical longitudinal and a verti- 'cal transverse section on lines 2-2and 3V- 3,

Fig. 1, Fig. 4. isa plan-view of thebody? y lportion of the crate, shown in folded ,condit-ion and with the top or cover removed, Fig.

is a top-view of the cover, Figs. 6 and?? are respectively vertical transverse. sections on lines 6 6, Fig. 4,and 7-7, Fig. 5, Figft 8 1s a perspective view of one of fthe double fasteners by which the walls and cover of .the crate are connected with each other, and

Figs. 9 and l0 are detail sections yof, the upper corners of the crate taken respectively at right angles'to each other and showing the double fasteners in locked position.

Similarletters of reference indicate cor-1 responding parts `.throughout the severalg -ures of the drawings.

My improved cratefis'constructed of six main-partsz a bottom a, a front-wallb, ak

rear-walloZ/,two sideewallskc, c,` and a top or cover e. The bottom a ismade of transverse slats a', side-strips 01.2 .and an interiory The cover e is.. `:made detachable from the body-portion and lining of card-board a3.

constructed in the samefrnanner, 4as. the bottom t of transverse' slats' e and longitudinal front and rear end-strips e2, which are connected by means s of suitable brads at the ends andcovered byan interior lining of card-board? which fare likewisek attached tothe'slats by means of brads. The cover is furthermore provided with narrow interior ycleats e4 which correspond ,withl thel walls are made in the same manner of upright slats and narrow connecting strips, which like the longitudinal 'strips of the side-walls are mortised for receiving the up,- right slats and connected together by means of brads in the saine manner as the slats and edge-strips of the bottom and cover. The inner sides of the side-walls as well as the inside of the front and rear-walls are covered with cardboard that is attached by means of brads in the same manner as inthe bottom and cover.

To the front and rear-edges of the bottom a are attached raised strips f which are equal in thickness with the longitudinal strips of the front and rear-walls and to the faces of the ends of these raised strips f are applied vertical sheet-metal plates f1 which are extended beyond the ends of the strips f and to which the lower longitudinal strips c3 of the side-walls c, o are connected by pivots f2. The lower longitudinal strips of the side-walls c, c are rounded off at their inner lower corners, also the lower ends of the upright slats so as to permit the free inward folding` of the side-walls o, c on their pivots onto the bottom a.

To the transverse ends of the front and rearstrips f are further applied upright sheet metal plates f3 which eXtend in vertical direct-ion above the front and rearstrips f and which serve for pivoting thereto at f4 the front and rear-walls b and d so as to permit of their being folded over the folded-down side-walls, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

The upper longitudinal strips of the front and rear-walls ZJ and d are provided near their ends and in line with the inner edges of the side-walls with transverse slots o for the purpose of permitting the convenient introduction of the lower arms of double fasteners g of angular shape which are fulcrumed at their apices to the inside of the upper corners of the side-walls c, 0 the arms of the double angular fasteners being` long enough to extend through an upper portion of the longitudinal strips of the front and rear-walls and then to be bent over the same so as to hold the side and the front and rear-walls firmly together in upright posit-ion, as shown in Fig. l.

The upper arms of the double-fastener g extend at right angles to the lower arms and serve for the purpose of being passed through slots 0 in the corners of the cover e, after which the ends of the upper arms of the fasteners are bent over the cover, as

shown in Fig. l, completing thereby the,

crate. Vhen the side, front and rear-walls are thus connected by the lower arms of the double fasteners and the cover held in position on the walls by the upper arms of the double fasteners as described, a strong and efficient shipping crate is obtained which is strong enough to resist even comparatively rough handling and which fully protects the articles placed therein, whether they are light articles of fashion, but also heavier articles of merchandise up to from 100 to 150 lbs. in weight.

In addition to the holding together of the body and cover'by the double fasteners described, there may be applied suitably-sealed locking wires fo-r Apreventing the removal of the cover while the goods are in transit.

lVhen the goods arrive at their destination they are removed from the crates and the latter are then folded up into collapsed state by disengaging first the cover from the body, which is done by bending up the upper arms of the fasteners so as to slip them through the slots in the cover, then straightening up the lower arms of the fasteners and removing the front and rearwalls by swinging them in outward direction, then swinging the double fasteners on their fulcrum toward the inside of the sidewalls` as shown in dotted linesin Fig. 4, folding the side-walls downwardly over the bottom, and then folding the front and rearwalls over the side-walls, as shown in Fig. 4.

lNhen it is desired to shipv articles requiring ventilation, the interior linings of card-board can be omitted from the side and rear-walls in which case the crate can be used as a collapsible return-crate for the shipment of fruits, eggs and other perish-i able articles of food.

The improved shipping crate can be manufactured at a comparatively small cost, as all the wooden parts can be cut to the proper size, the pivot-plates and the angular fasteners stamped out by means of dies, and the crate then assembled as required, either with or without the interior linings of cardboard, forming thereby a collapsible shipping crate which can be used advantageously for the shipment of articles in many dierent trades.

I claim:

1. A shipping crate comprising a bottom, a side wall having a hinge connection with said bottom, an adjacent side wall having a hinge connection with said bottom, a cover, and an angular fastener pivoted at its angle to one of said walls at one corner thereof and having a horizontal arm adapted to engage and lock the other wall and a vertical arm engaging the cover and adapted to lock thereover.

2. A shipping crate comprising a bottom, a side wall having a hinge connection with said bottom, an adjacent side wall having a hinge connection with said bottom, one of said side walls being provided with a slot, a cover provided with a slot, an angular fastener pivoted to one of said walls at one corner thereof and having an arm composed of fiexible sheet metal adapted to engage said slotted side wall and being bendable -over against the outer face thereof for locking said side Wall in upright position, and a vertical arm adapted to engage the slot of said cover and composedof sheet metal bendable into contact with the outer face of said cover for locking the same.

3. A shipping crate comprising a bottom, a side Wall having a hinge connection Withsaid bottom, an adjacent side Wall having a hinge connection with said bottom, one of said side Walls being provided With a slot, a cover provided with a slot, an angular fastener pivoted to one of said side Walls at one corner thereof and having a horizontal arm engaging the slotted side Wall and composed of tWo layers of sheet kmeta-1 bendable in opposite directions into contact With the outer face of said side Wall for locking the same in vertical position and a vertical arm engaging said slotted cover and composed of two layers of sheet Vmetal bendable in opposite directions into cont-act With the outer face of said cover for locking it in closed position. c

4. A shipping crate, comprising a` bottom, raised strips applied to the front and rearfedges of said bottom, side-Walls hinged to opposite ends of said strips, and provided With slots in its upper corners, front andrear-Walls also hinged to the front and rear strips of the bottom, a cover having slots in its corners, angular double fasteners Lplates, extension-plates attached to the ends of the strips at right angles to the irst set of extension-plates, front and rear-Wallsy pivoted to-said second set of extension-plates, said front and rear-Walls being provided With transverse slots in their upper corners, a cover provided With slots in its corners, and angular ydouble fasteners fulcrumed at their apices to the upper corners and inside of the side-Walls, the arms of said fasteners being adapted to be passed through the slots of the front and rear-Walls, and of the cover for lockingl the side, front and rear-vval1s and the cover together.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOSEPH WAHL.

Witnesses:

PAUL GOEPEL, JOHN MURTAGH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

` Washington, D. C. 

